Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Krakow – Płaszów Concentration Camp

    There’s not much left of Płaszów concentration camp now, although it remains today almost in the same state as the Soviets found it in when they entered the city in January 1945. Many visitors to Krakow travel some distance to Auschwitz Birkenau when they visit the city, but this camp is located within walking distance of Krakow city centre.

    I’ve been to this site before in 2016, although it was pouring with rain when I got there and so I didn’t spend as much time as I’d wanted. Since my last visit a number of large information boards have been placed around the site and these have made it easier to interpret what remains.

    The Germans led most of the camp’s occupants on a death march to concentration camps in mid-1944, although the last prisoners left in early January 1945. Panicked by what the Soviets might find the Nazis quickly destroyed as much evidence as they could in the time they had, meaning that the Soviets found just empty fields.

    I think the two photos above are taken from around the same place.

    The scale of the camp.

    Halina Nelken was born in Krakow in September 1943 and spent time at Płaszów, Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps amongst numerous others. She, somehow, managed to survive the war and wrote an account of her time in the camps.

    An overhead plan of the site.

    There were no gas chambers at the camp but a large number of inmates died due to illness and many were also summarily executed. Many people were killed and buried nearby, but the Nazis had to quickly exhume and burn the bodies in January 1945 before they fled.

    The remains of the funeral building used by the Jews for preparing bodies before burial.

    This is the headstone of Sarah Schenirer, a Krakow lady who established a network of schools. Her original burial stone was destroyed when the Nazis wrecked the cemetery, but this replacement was added to the site in 2005.

    This is the grey house which was originally the administrative office for the Jewish cemetery, which the Germans destroyed when they built the camp. It was from here that the infamous camp commandant Amon Goeth fired shots from his balcony at Jewish prisoners. The house was fitted out with cells and there are plans to turn the property into a museum.

    The site as it is now, which is primarily a nature reserve. There’s something quite raw about visiting such a barren site, but personally I think that a proper museum and even more signs around the site would be useful to help visitors interpret the camp.

     

  • Wieliczka – World War Two Photo

    There was an external display in Wieliczka about the Second World War, and this photo was shown on it. I’ve seen this photo of a boy in the Warsaw ghetto in numerous places and I think it is one of the most harrowing taken during the conflict.

    The photo was presented proudly by Jürgen Stroop as part of a book length report, now known as the Stroop Report, he wrote of how he had liquidated the Warsaw ghetto. Stroop was confused about how bravely the Jews in the ghetto had fought back, it didn’t meet his prejudices about how the Jews wouldn’t fight.

    Stroop destroyed nearly every part of the Warsaw ghetto after the liquidation, a process that killed 50,000 people. He then ensured nearly every building was demolished and he personally oversaw the demolition by explosives of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw.

    Stroop was sentenced to death in the war crimes trials but he hoped that he would be able to get his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, despite his crimes. He was handed over to Poland who commenced a new trial in July 1951, which led to his execution on 6 March 1952. His execution took place in Warsaw, the city which he had tried to destroy.

    Anyway, back to the photo. The man of the right of the photo is Josef Blösche and he managed to get away with his crimes because he went unidentified after the war. He was able to settle down and he had two children, but when the photos of him came to light in the 1960s he was identified. He was sent to trial and was executed in Leipzig on 29 July 1969.

    Despite some false identifications, the scared boy in the photo with his hands in the air has never been identified. Given no-one has been able to identify him, it’s likely that he died at a concentration camp, probably Majdanek or Treblinka. The boy will likely never be identified, but the image represents the horror that hundreds of thousands of children went through.

    The photo of this boy was originally taken proudly by a German officer, but instead it now remains as one of the abiding and enduring images of the horror that was the Holocaust.

  • Norwich – KindaKafe Tour

    Steve kindly organised a tour for 24 of us to visit the hidden rooms under KindaKafe in Norwich. Twelve members of Hike Norfolk went down at 19:00 and then the other twelve members went down at 20:00. I was in the latter group and was fortunate to have an extended tour which went on for one hour and forty minutes.

    In short, the property was once lived and worked in by weavers, with the area to the rear being a courtyard. The building up of Castle Meadow meant that the ground level rose and the old property was extended upwards and a new frontage was constructed onto what was then known as Castle Ditches. So the courtyard disappeared under the new building and the old rooms became used as storage areas for Ponds the shoe shop.

    Down one flight of stairs, this is the old first floor of the property, the windows are of the room where the weaving would once have taken place. This is the back of the property, which would have overlooked the courtyard.

    Two flights of stairs down from where we started and this is the old ground floor of the house that was built here. The window frame is more recent, but is in the same place as the original window.

    Inside the former living area of the house which is where the weavers would have lived. The floor above this is where they would have worked.

    The ceiling of the property’s former ground floor, which has seen better days….

    Old graffiti on the wall, seemingly dating to 1739. There’s a similar piece of graffiti in Norwich Cathedral which appears to be representative of a religious building, that’s my best guess for this as well.

    An old bed, it’s thought that this was used when the basement was an air raid shelter during the Second World War.

    And a desk lamp from the same period.

    A separate undercroft area under a different section of the building. The strange collection of items are related to the escape rooms which have recently been opened as an attraction.

    This door comes out on to Castle Meadow. All this history that I’ve walked straight by for years without even thinking about….

    The rear of the building opens out into a courtyard area.

    And our tour also came out opposite the Cosy Club and right near to Greggs. Which is very lovely indeed.

    The guide was marvellous, she was engaging and knowledgeable and managed to keep talking for over 100 minutes on the topic. During this time she was never boring and didn’t seem to be tempted to move into the realms of making things up for effect, so there was solid history behind her dialogue. This tour is booked up for some months, and rightfully so given just how much heritage there is to see. I had expected the evening to be interesting, but I hadn’t expected to see this much or for the guide to be so engaging.

  • Wieliczka – Independence Memorial

    The tablet on the memorial was mostly covered by wreathes, but I think that this is a memorial to those who died in fighting for Polish independence. Poland regained its independence on 11 November 1918 with the advent of the Second Polish Republic.

    Marking eighty years since independence, this tablet on the reverse of the memorial dates to 11/11/1998. It’s all nicely looked after and I do like the country’s national symbol of the eagle.

  • Krakow – Train to Wieliczka Salt Mine

    There are a lot of companies offering tours to the salt mines at Wieliczka and some of them appear to be rather expensive. I opted to go by train and the ticket cost the grand total of 3.50zl (which is about 75p) to get there, which puts into perspective how much more expensive the tour companies are.

    The train takes forty minutes and it’s the service which comes from (and to) Krakow airport. It’s nice and shiny both internally and externally.

    The train was modern inside and there were power points available at the seats. I bought my ticket at the ticket office at Krakow’s main railway station, although you can buy the ticket at machines at both Krakow and Wieliczka. There’s also a ticket machine inside the train carriage, making this one of the smoothest ticket purchasing options possible, with cards and cash both accepted. It certainly puts some cities, not least Turin, to shame.

    There are also numerous bus services which go to the mines, but for sheer convenience and low fares, I personally think that the train is the most efficient and comfortable way to go.

  • Krakow – Ghetto Wall

    There are, to my knowledge, two intact sections of ghetto wall left in Krakow, and this is the longest section which is located at ulica Limanowskiego. Looking at this remnant now, it is a sobering juxtaposition having a children’s playground located next to the wall.

    The wall was deliberately built to look like Jewish tombstones, and effectively the ghetto was established as a holding area to use people as free labour before their transportation to concentration camps. The ghetto was deliberately packed, so that there were four families placed in every apartment, with some not even fortunate enough to be able to live inside.

  • Krakow – Cytat Cafe

    This cafe is located in the Jewish area of Krakow and I was attracted by the tempting signage offering coffee in an environment full of books. It sounded rather lovely.

    Internally the cafe looked welcoming, the book arch was an interesting feature, although I fear that at some point someone will take a book away from a key structural position.

    So many books…. There are also inspirational messages of various sorts which have been placed on walls around the cafe.

    The cafe was relatively large in size and there were numerous different areas. I opted for the seat by the window which looked out onto a border collie, my most favourite breed of dog.

    The latte and cake, all of a perfectly good quality. The service in the cafe was polite, although at times it seemed slightly confused, although I normally add to the chaos on such occasions. Cleanliness wasn’t great, the cafe’s toilet probably needed cleaning a matter of hours before my visit rather than minutes, and the staff didn’t seem particularly pro-active in cleaning away empty plates on tables.

    However, the environment was comfortable and welcoming, with the interior perhaps bigger than it looks from the outside. There was a decent choice of cakes for customers and the coffees were clearly written up on a large board behind the counter area. The prices weren’t unreasonable and there were also some cooked food options available for those who wanted that.

  • Priority Pass – Review

    Since I haven’t written directly about my Priority Pass card, now seems an opportune time to do it. This is primarily because they appear to be getting some really negative reviews on-line in places such as Trustpilot, which to me at least seem undeserved.

    I hadn’t really intended to get a Priority Pass card last year, but Accor were doing a special offer which meant that it was just over £210 a year for an unlimited pass. That gets me into lounges at most airports for free and I can take a guest in for £20 (was £15) although I haven’t bothered with that option as I’m happy to abandon travelling companions.

    One defining reason that I wanted one of the cards last July was that I was flying out of Luxembourg and that’s one of my favourite lounges, so Accor messaging me whilst I was in that city was just destiny as far as I was concerned…. Incidentally, that’s been the only lounge where something went wrong, as the Priority Pass system was down and they wrote down my card number and clearly never invoiced them since it never appeared on my account.

    Accessing the lounge can usually be done by downloading an App on a smartphone and showing that, although I carry my physical card as well. When someone joins the scheme they also get sent a book of where the lounges are, which is quite a substantial little tome as there are over 1,000 lounges around the world where access is possible.

    Anyway, I’ve written about several of the lounges, and there have been some really good examples, such as in Katowice, Luxembourg, Malta and Vilnius to name just a few. There’s also the Grain Lounge at Gatwick Airport, which is a restaurant where lounge card holders can go.

    One common complaint raised against Priority Pass is that some of the lounges, and these seem predominantly to be in the UK, are often full and have to turn away card holders. I’ve never been turned away, although I do try and visit at quieter times if I can which might have helped. My flights are usually at strange times of the day though, which helps me since sensible people prefer not to fly at 6am.

    There is a way round this, and that’s to pre-book a lounge by paying a sum of £5. I’m not engaged with this at all, as although it guarantees access I don’t see that this feels like a fair way of charging customers who have already paid for the pass. Some people get a lounge pass courtesy of their bank or financial provider, and they might be willing to pay £5, but it seems expensive to me to ask people to buy a pass and then charge them another £5 every time they want to visit the lounge.

    The best way of resolving this problem has been trialled in numerous US airports, and at Gatwick as I mentioned, which is to encourage restaurants to join the scheme. This works by giving the customer £15, or a broadly similar amount in a different currency, to spend at the restaurant, which takes some pressure off the lounges. I’d very much like Priority Pass to focus on expanding this part of their offering, as it would enable people feel that they are at least able to get a meal and drinks if nothing else.

    My renewal comes up in around two months, and I’m not entirely sure how much it will be, as this information isn’t in my account yet. I’m on balance not going to renew, but this isn’t because I’m disappointed with the service, but solely because I’ve now got Oneworld status again and so I get lounge access this way for many of my flights.

    But, back to whether the pass is a good idea or not…. There are a variety of passes available, some give a fixed number of lounge accesses for those who travel slightly less frequently, through the unlimited accesses card that I have. For anyone making even more than a handful of flights a year, I’d recommend the card, as airports can be a bit of a nightmare, and it is nice to get a little calm before the flight. Or indeed after it, as there are a few arrivals lounges which are part of the scheme.

    So, I’d say that Priority Pass is actually quite a decent scheme, and that it is far better than some reviews might suggest it is. If they can give me a reasonable annual fee offer for another year, then I’d certainly be keen to sign up again. For the time I’ve had the pass though, I’m very happy with it and have certainly benefited from the peace and quiet in numerous lounges during that time.

  • Katowice – Katowice Airport Business Lounge (Terminal A)

    I arrived several hours before my flight (this isn’t unusual) and was unsure what to expect from the airport’s lounge in Katowice. I used my Priority Pass card and I was allowed in straight away as there doesn’t seem to be a minimum length of stay.

    It’s a pleasant lounge area as it’s clean and tidy, with views over the runway. The welcome was friendly and the staff didn’t need to see my boarding card as they do in some lounges. When I entered I was the only person in the lounge, and at its peak there were four of us in there.

    That’s a much better drinks selection than in many other lounges around the world. A range of beers, sodas, fruit juices, non-alcoholic beers and all well presented. There’s more choices of drinks alone than in BA Galleries lounges or any UK pay per visit lounge that I’ve been to.

    A fine array of chocolates and sweets, and the selection on the right were really tasty. This is the best sweets selection that I’ve seen since the popcorn and sweets counter at the American Airlines Lounge at Heathrow T3.

    Wine on tap.

    There was a selection of teas on the right, in addition to the already mentioned sweets.

    Sausage roll, shrimp pasta and salmon open sandwiches. All very lovely.

    One of the food fridges, with chicken salads, cakes, cold sandwiches and the like.

    The hot food selection, which had dumplings, the aforementioned sausage rolls (they were excellent) and there was also a wide range of spirits available at the top as well.

    There’s only one toilet in the lounge and the lock is broken, so that probably needs fixing. If the lounge was busier then this would likely be an irritation, but being so quiet, it didn’t really present any obstacle to my lounge enjoyment. There were plenty of power points around the lounge and there were sufficient display screen to show when flights were departing.

    Overall, I’d say this is one of the best lounges that I’ve visited where passengers can pay to access it. It felt quiet and peaceful, so a real improvement on the hustle and bustle of the airport terminal. If I were to visit Katowice again, I’d certainly look forwards to coming here again before my flight.

  • Krakow – Space Craft Beer Bar

    Craft beer bars are becoming more common across Poland, and this in my view is a wonderful step in the right direction. This craft beer bar has a modern feel to it, and a slightly confused space theme which I never quite understood, although they use the line “in a galaxy of bars of pubs, Space is in a world of its own”.

    This is the Stoutyskaf from Browar Wehikul, a small operation located towards the south-west of Warsaw. The drink is an Irish dry stout, at 4.6%, and it had a decent taste and a depth of flavour including some notes of coffee and caramel.

    There was a sign saying that fish and chips was available for 20zl, which is around £4, so I accidentally ordered it. And this was much better than I expected, the fish itself tasted fresh and had a pleasant flavour to it. The batter also had a richness of taste, although was perhaps slightly over-cooked. The peas were a little cold, but were proper mushy peas and the tartare sauce also added nicely to the whole arrangement. The chips were also just as I like them, French fries with an element of crispiness.

    The service was warm and engaging, the surroundings were comfortable and this was the sort of bar that I could happily linger in. One slight downside was that a British stag group came marching in half-way through my visit, demanding (and I think that’s a fair word) lager. The barman was professional, but one of the stag group proudly announced “they don’t serve proper beer here lads, let’s go”. Look at the list of beers at the top of this post, there are some fantastic sounding choices there, but since there’s no Stella it clearly wasn’t suitable for that group…..

    Reasonably priced, welcoming environment, excellent choice of beers, proper chalked up selection, just what I like.